Amateur rugby players launch claim over brain injuries

MANCHESTER: Another 55 amateur rugby players who are suffering from neurological impairments joined the growing list of claimants in a class-action concussion lawsuit on Monday, claiming that the sport's governing bodies failed to take reasonable action to protect them.

London sports law firm Rylands Garth issued proceedings on behalf of the 55 players against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), taking the number involved to 250 in the latest chapter in one of the sport's biggest stories.

"The players we represent love the game," Rylands Garth said in a statement. "We aim to challenge the current perceptions of the governing bodies, to reach a point where they accept the connection between repetitive blows to the head and permanent neurological injury and to take steps to protect players and support those who are injured."

The lack of protection against repetitive concussive and sub-concussive blows, the law firm said, has led to irreversible neurological impairments, including early onset dementia, CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), post-concussion syndrome, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and motor neurone disease.             

"(CTE) is a cruel and progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in many players of contact sports leading to repetitive brain trauma," they said.

Rylands Garth applauded Monday's news that World Rugby is recommending that the tackle height be lowered to below the sternum in the amateur game, following a similar move by the RFU, albeit one that has had to be quickly reappraised after widespread criticism of their failure to consult almost anyone about the plan.

World Rugby pointed to studies in France and South Africa that showed positive